Other people's alphabets

Tonight I’m feeling a bit under the weather, with flu symptoms and what not, so I’ve decided on a quick post to ‘teach’ you a few things about Macedonian language and some common phrases in it.

In order to do so, I’ll have to mention that my native language uses the Cyrillic alphabet (a version of 31 letters).

Please note that other Slavic languages (Serbian, Bulgarian, Russian, to name a few) also use the Cyrillic script, however in slightly different versions (a few letters here and there are different).

The alphabet is phonetic in nature, which means you write what you say (with a mere few exceptions), and you read it as written. Think of it like Spanish. Macedonian does not have letter or sound equivalents for the English TH sounds (as in THis, and healTH,) or the W sound (as in Water).

Source

It has 5 vowels, all of which are SHORT when pronounced.

• A – as in cAr
• E – as in dEn
• И – as in inn
• О – as in wrOng
• У – as in shOE

The alphabet has 31 letters, and I’ll try to give you an approximation with the English sounds.

• A, а – as in cAr
• Б, б = English B
• В, в = English V
• Г, г = English G, as in go, good, …
• Д, д = English D
• Ѓ, ѓ = it’s like a combo of GY in Gyoza
• Е, е – as in dEn
• Ж, ж = this is the S sound in pleaSure, meaSure, (like a French J)
• З, з = English Z
• S, s = This is a combo of DZ , very similar to the DS in poDS,
• И, и = as in inn
• J, j = English Y as in yolk, yellow,
• K, к = English K
• Л, л = English L
• Љ, љ = this is combo of LY , closest example would be million (pronounced as two syllables), or very similar to Portuguese LH, Italian GL, Spanish LL,
• M, м = English M
• Н, н = English N
• Њ, њ = this is combo of NY , as in new, canyon, or Spanish ñ, or French GN (la montagne)
• О, о – as in wrOng
• П, п = English P
• Р, р = Spanish R (rolled R), not the English R
• С, с = English S
• T, т = English T
• Ќ, ќ = this is a combo of KY, the closest equivalent would be when you say quickly ‘fuck yeah!’
• У, у – as in shOE?
• Ф, ф = English F
• Х, х = English H
• Ц, ц = this is a combo TS – as in beaTS, raTS,
• Ч, ч = English CH as in Charlie, church
• Џ, џ = English G as in George, jungle,
• Ш, ш = English SH, as in shush, sharp.

So, one more time, that’s:

А Б В Г Д Ѓ Е Ж З Ѕ И Ј К Л Љ М Н Њ О П Р С Т Ќ У Ф Х Ц Ч Џ Ш

Source

There you have it!

Just by looking at the letters as ordered in the alphabet, you can discern a couple of words:

• ЕЖ = hedgehog
• ПРСТ = a finger
  You’d notice that the word for finger does not have any vowels in it – in this case, the second letter – the Р – is considered vowel-y.

Here are a few phrases for today, with an approximate pronunciation in English, the H after the vowels is to remind you that the vowels are to be pronounced short (see above), with the stress indicated in CApital LETters:

• Здраво! (ZDRAH-voh) = Hi / Hello!
• Kако си? / Како сте? (KAHkoh si? / KAHkoh steh?) – How are you? / How are y’all?
• Добро, фала. (DOHbroh, FAHlah) = Well/Good, thanks.
• Убав ден! / Пријатен ден! (UHbahv DEHN! / PRIHyahtehn DEHN!) = (Have a) good/pleasant day!
• До гледање! / До видување! (doh GLEHdahnyeh! / doh vihDUHvahnye!) = (till I) See you (next)!
• Чао! (CHAo) = bye! (like Italian ciao!)

Thanks for your attention, and пријатен ден!